The present invention is particularly related to mounting equipment in police vehicles. It is well understood that extensive modifications are required in order to convert a vehicle into a vehicle for police use. In particular, an assortment of electronic equipment must somehow be mounted in the vehicle in a manner which is convenient to the police officers operating the vehicle and which is done at a minimum cost. Typically, a police vehicle will require accessible mounting of a radio, or a controller for a radio mounted elsewhere, a switching control panel for controlling auxiliary equipment such as the various outside lights included in the police vehicle, and a siren control unit. Heretofore, two main systems were employed in order to mount the electronic equipment in a police vehicle.
The first of these mounting systems is termed an equipment tree. The equipment tree is a tower-like mounting bracket disposed on the transmission hump in the center of the front seat of the police vehicle just rearward of the dashboard. This bracket is typical secured by being bolted to the floor of the vehicle at the transmission hump and cross braced by members extending under the dash of the vehicle to some structural member. The various equipment required is secured to this equipment tree.
The use of equipment trees such as described above has numerous disadvantages. Firstly, this equipment tree can be a severe knee hazard to police officers occupying either front seat of the police vehicle. Because vehicle models differ widely in the dimensions and shape of the transmission hump, and in the position of the structural members underneath the dash to which the cross braces must be attached, installation of such an equipment tree must be a semi-custom operation. This installation therefore requires a large amount of labor. In addition, the extensive cutting and bolting necessary to perform this installation causes a great deal of damage to the vehicle. This damage to the vehicle reduces the resale value of the vehicle when it is retired from police service. In addition, because of the semi-custom form of installation, it is difficult and expensive to deinstall the equipment tree when the police vehicle is retired from service.
The second form of equipment mounting is an in dash mounting. In this case, the ordinary electronic equipment provided with the vehicle is removed and replaced by the extensive equipment required for the police vehicle. In addition, further in dash mounting, beyond those ordinarily provided in the vehicle received from stock, are often required in order to accommodate the numerous units of equipment required in the vehicle. Such an installation must be customized to the particular vehicle model, because the dash configurations of vehicle models differ so greatly. In addition, as in the case of the equipment tree, extensive labor is required to install and deinstall the police equipment. A further disadvantage is that the installation is at the mercy of the designers of the motor vehicles employed, because a minor change in the vehicle interior design often requires major changes in the installation technique for the police equipment required. Although this technique is not as destructive as the equipment tree, it still causes a good deal of damage to the vehicle, consequently reducing the resale value of the vehicle upon retirement from police service.
These factors provide a dilemma to the fleet manager whose task it is to provide the proper vehicles to the police officers at a minimum cost. As a consequence, it would be highly advantageous to provide a manner of mounting the electronic equipment required in a police vehicle in a manner not requiring extensive custom modification of the vehicle, which would be easy to deinstall upon retirement of the vehicle from police service and which would cause a minimum of damage to the police vehicle, thereby increasing the resale value and reducing the total cost of operation of the vehicle to the police force.